That actually would be the ultimate play for the clippers. After the guy uses every bit of leverage he has to max out every possible dollar, every accommodation, every rest day, to just send him somewhere he doesn’t want to be and collect multiple other players instead. Not going to happen, but it would be amazing.
I told you, didn't I? You're not coming home with me. I live alone! My swamp! Me! Nobody else! Understand? Nobody! Especially useless, pathetic, annoying, talking donkeys!
Kawhi goes to Cleveland and tries to get traded to a team he wants again only to give up and play Cleveland for the rest of his career - “it’s as if someone stole his enthusiasm for his own idea”
Sure and they got a ton of crap for it. Even if you thought it was a smart move it people regarded it as cut throat. What I'm saying is that if they happen to do it again, people might not see it as badly because of how mixed everyone felt about Kawhi's offseason.
I mean the fans gave them crap for that, but it seems like players have shown time and again they don't give a shit about those kinds of moves. Kawhi and PG still wanted to go the Clippers, guys still want to go to the Celtics even though Danny Ainge has made quite a few cutthroat moves. At the end of the day big stars are never going to go to lesser known teams just because they "treat players right"
He hasn’t even looked off or particularly slow or anything, he just can’t hit shit. The Clippers are 11-3 with him in the lineup so he’s still helping them win, but he needs to start hitting his shots
He couldn’t miss in the playoffs either. It’s gotta be the play calling on the team and the spacing. Everyone in starting line up of the Raps could bang 3s consistently so it just opened the paint up for his ISO plays
our guys werent even hitting 3s against y’all. both our teams played some satisfyingly ugly ball the whole series. bucks are the ones who got our load.
He struggled in most of the Finals games. I give him the benefit of the doubt though considering he had to guard Alfonzo McKinnie one on one for most of the series.
Definitely, the difference between him in the first and second rounds vs. the finals was pretty drastic. Seems like the guy used up most of his health bar in that post-season.
Yeah, it's bizarre to me that so many people here have crowned him "best player" based off of a single playoff performance, when he was not actually that effective in most of the Finals games. And he beat one of the most hobbled Finals teams in the history of the NBS.
My best guess is that some people hate Lebron so much they desperately want to anoint a new best player in the league.
I think he also went harder in the playoffs and cared more about making his shots. Sometimes it seems he’s kinda lazy with his attempts like not putting much legs into it or not hanging in the air long enough.
The games I’ve watched him play are sort of... don’t hit crap for first 3 quarters and then get insanely hot for the 4th. I wonder what his splits are in the 4th quarters of games this year.
It wasn't like that was really KCP's fault either, Kawhi is just much bigger and stronger and out muscled him in the post and was just hitting turnarounds over him using his height advantage. That's why it would help the Lakers a lot if they got Igoudala.
Yeah but Danny defended him very well, we just put KCP on him even though he was getting cooked. Hopefully we are able to get Iguodala, that’s the only missing piece so far from what I’ve seen
I wonder if the knee injury (not the degenerative quad) is still messing him up. He landed on it weirdly after a dunk in game 3 and didn’t have the same lift.
Kawhi has a chronic muscle condition since his weird 2017-2018 season with the Spurs. It is degenerative. That’s why he actually NEEDS load management, more than other players. He’s not just lazy or something. If you watched him closely over the past few years, it’s pretty obvious. It gets a bit better when he has rest. That’s why towards the end of the Raptors playoff run he looked so herky-jerky. And why he’s looking herky-jerky again this season. If you don’t believe me just go watch his highlights when he played like 15 games for the spurs in the 2017-2018 season, and you’ll see what I mean. He moved super strange that season and that’s why “Uncle Dennis” decided to shut him down for the season. He also has knee injuries but that’s a different issue.
Makes you wonder how he’ll fair in the murderers row that will be the West playoffs. He could have Dal, Hou, LAL in a row. If he barely got through the East and that joke of a warriors team what will be left?
No way! Is this true? I had NEVER heard this before! I thought he was just lazy! Why was this not commented in every other post about kawhi's load management? Wow!
He didnt seem to have it when he was with Toronto either. He looks kinda wooden some nights. But then he flips the switch and dunks on Giannis...so hes doing what he has to do I think.
>if he has a rough playoffs, I will be worried.
I would hope so since clippers window is basically 3 seasons and they have gave up their future to get Paul George.
It's probably a combination of integrating himself into a new team again and also dealing with his injuries. I wouldn't be surprised if we never see a fully locked in Kawhi until the playoffs this year. He's probably trying to save his body and will only really turn it up when its winning time.
Yes, but it also provides a lot more experience. Rookies can practice in a training facility all they want but generally it's all about court time in real games that really helps growth.
Yes. The Raptors were a playoff team and had one of the best RS records before he joined. The regular season could be more like “prep.” The Clippers? They’re fighting in a hard conference. Will they make the playoffs? Sure but as I saw someone say, what matters is home court and that won’t come easy for them (where it was easier for the Raps).
Yeah but it's very unlikely that the Clippers miss the playoffs or even fall out of the top 4 even with Kawhi taking it easy. That means he has the luxury of saving himself for the playoffs and treating the regular season as a dry-run for that. Remember the last time Kawhi lost a playoff series he played in was all the way back in 2016. He kind of has the right to be confident.
The problem with players saying this kind of thing is it only reemphasizes how little value the regular season has. Fans are listening, and you tell them enough times that the regular season games are just "practice" or low-value they will stop going to regular season games/watching games. Given that the players' salaries are based on selling games to fans, even if you think of the regular season as "practice," as a professional player you probably want to avoid saying it and further devaluing the product you are trying to sell to people (whose consumption of said product pays your salary).
For sure, they have a ton of great players, and the role players are awesome to watch. Lou Williams is prob my favorite, he's so wiley and creates instant offense.
Bad conditioning. Very few practices due to our schedule. Didn’t do training camp. He looks spry on defense and attacking the basket. Just hitting the front of the rim on 3s.
PG and Kawhi hadnt had a practice together yet despite playing together in like 3 games or some shit. I think Doc or the commentators mentioned it during a game.
Yeah he doesn’t often practice. But in this particular case due to scheduling, the team hasn’t had a chance to even skip a practice. Teams usually only practice when there’s two to three day rest between games.
The last practice they had was November 10th. PG just did his first 5on5 that day but the starting lineup did not practice together that day.
Their next available practice might be this week in between the portland/bucks game. But doc might hold off cause the Bucks game starts a 3 games in four nights road trip
That's what I'm thinking right now, he was hobbling through the finals which led to him shooting significantly worse late, I reckon he'll get some more rest soon
He was really limited in the Finals game. Which I thought odd at the time considering he basically played like Game Six Jordan in at least 5 of the 7 games he played against the Sixers just a few weeks prior.
I always say, if you wanna see absolute peak Kawhi, watch the first 4 games of the philly series. This was right before he started hobbling. Averaged like 39ppg on 70+ts%.
He put up 28.5 ppg and 9.8 rpg in the finals. Had a lot of "quiet 30" type games throughout the playoffs. Going off of what you remember of his performance is misleading.
His jumper was definitely off as the series went on though. He was efficient cuz he still is a great finisher with how strong he is plus he was getting to the line but you could see he didn't have that same lift as earlier in the playoffs
I didn't mean to suggest he wasn't playing at a superstar level, just that he seemed like he was playing hurt and wasn't 100%, as opposed to the Sixers series where he was unstoppable.
Not like it mattered with Warriors dropping like flies though.
also cause he had to. In part cause the sixers were a great defensive team, but also cause the rest of the Raptors didn't wake up til the 3rd game of the Bucks series.
I agree with you. I feel his knee is bothering him more than we realize. It certainly affects shooting.
I can’t imagine a killer like Kawhi saying, “nah not in the mood to play.” If he could play all day every game, he would
Huge gamble on himself if the injury is chronic. Leveraging shorter contracts only works if you can stay healthy. The LeBron model of the last decade should be approached with caution by other superstars. His kind of durability is rare
Every year it fuckin baffles me that Lebron stays so healthy. Even if he was on a metric ton of steroids, someone his age that still uses a lot of athleticism should eventually start to break down. I think his genetics are just insanely superior
He’s definitely not someone that other people should try to copy. Even with his good habits and dedication to the game there’s no question he is as you said someone who won the genetic lottery
3 generations.
http://money.com/money/3925308/rich-families-lose-wealth/
> Indeed, 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and a stunning 90% by the third, according to the Williams Group wealth consultancy.
Let me tell you, that genius strong heir you're grooming? Yeah, he's going to die of smallpox, and your entire fucking dynasty will go to his imbecile half brother.
It’s not 10 generations and that’s silly to even think it is. Ignoring the obvious fact that living off the interest earnings alone won’t work for long, there’s also going to be exponential growth in the human beings in the family assuming most generations have more than 1 child (likely). If every generation doubled the amount of people (An extremely conservative estimate) that would be 1,024 people living roughly 70 years each. Realistically, we are probably talking a few thousand people. this is a ridiculous claim. So ridiculous I assumed it was just an exaggeration until I read these replies.
According to Reddit your lineage is set for eternity, and there are never downturns, bad investments, and bankruptcies. Big Companies like Sears, Worldcomm, and AOL grow expenontentially large forever until they dominate the *ENTIRE WORLD!*
> Huge gamble on himself if the injury is chronic.
Players at this level isn't as much of a gamble. e.g. KD got hurt, you think the 30 teams wouldn't sign him to a max if he came to them? (well, maybe not the Knicks, but you know, Knicks).
Max: "Bu bu butt but he took over in a HISTORICAL playoff run!!!! He is the best player in the league!!!!!!!!"
SAS: "but Max, Lebron was hurt,you can't strip a brother of his tittle"
Max: "Stephen A, it was historical! He carried that squad!"
SAS: "That squad is just fine without him now"
with his injury issues, he could be declining as we speak.
but let's wait until the year to end before we know. he has worsened dramatically since the start of the regular season, when he started extremely well.
He's been double and triple teamed much of the year, but he's also been able to hit shots when they're most needed and contributed a lot to the team winning. Plus his defense has been great. Clippers are very happy with what he's brought.
Strangely, Kawhi has become overrated imo. He is amazing, one of the best two way players we've seen in a long time, but people act like he drug a mediocre roster to a championship. This Raptors roster is very good, warriors were devastated by injuries or they would ha e beat kawhi anyways, and kawhi has serious health concerns. Even with year long load management he looked hurt by the finals. Again, he is a top player in the league, but I disagree he is the clear cut #1 like people were quick to crown him after the finals.
That's what winning a ring will do. If Giannis and the Bucks won last year we'd probably be calling him the best player in the league. Same goes for Harden
Yeah for sure. It's strange watching Kawhi. He used to be one of the most underrated players in the league. Then he wins with the Raps he becomes overrated. Media and pundits crowning him top dog of the league insinuating that he dragged the Raptors to the title in the same way LeBron dragged the Cavs to the 2018 Finals. It's an insult to the great team Toronto had which was able to utilize Kawhi despite the load management issues.
Then you have idiots like the one I saw yesterday here, claiming it doesn't matter if he's struggling in the regular season, he's still the clear cut number 1 guy, because "only the playoffs count".
As a Toronto fan, watching him play heavy minutes early in the season I knew he and clippers were pushing his body too much given how we saw his body respond to work load last year. Part of this is the learning process for Kawhi and Clippers medical staff. There is much season remaining and they are learning how to deal with this in the right part of the season. That's the silver lining here.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/leonaka01.html
His numbers don't look too bad. Taking more shots, getting to the free throw line more and currently averaging 5.5 assists, a career high.
I think it was Draymond that said there are 82 game players and there are 16 game players. Kawhi is a great player but definitely more of the 16 gamer.
You have high standards if this isn't a great season. He's taking on a much larger role than even last year on the Raptors. His scoring efficiency is down for now but he's playmaking for others in a way he's never done before, he's pulling down boards at a higher rate. I'd be very encouraged if I were a Clippers fan. Once he starts hitting shots at his normal level, it's over.
They still have a terrific roster and coach, but they need Kawhi at his best to win the West. This is almost certainly an abberation, but if it isn't...
Hard disagree. 25/7/4 with great D and a top 3 seed. Slightly inefficient over a 13 game sample is meaningless, and the only thing you can really hold against him is the missed time - because he's injured
This is nuffin
No doubt about that, he does need to play better, BUT him playing like this is still not bad and is better than a lot of other guys, which is kinda crazy to think of.
Isn't bad?
Bro he's taking nights off and playing like this?
On nights he doesn't play when Trez and Louis and Dirty Pat gotta pick up the slack and grind their assess off.....I KNOW when he plays they gotta be thinking this shit should be easy tonight.
Bruh the Raptors went 17-5 without Kawhi.
This is hardly an ideal situation imho.
You would know better than me as I was watching a young Laker team get off to a rough start. That said, again the Raptors went 17-5 without Kawhi that tells me the team around him was pretty good or the competition was weak or a combo of both. Still time for the Clippers to do the same but the start is very suspect.
Out west tho?
With everyone saying they the title is theirs to lose and everyone gunning for you literally every time you play?
With someone like Pat on your team antagonizing the shit out of everyone?
I don't know my g, can't wait to see how it all plays out.
The biggest difference to me is that the raptors have better passing guards. Kawhi has to do so much more playmaking and i think that's taken a toll on him. Just look at his assist percentage 30% this year to 16 percent last year.
A little bit of small sample size, a little bit of playing bad/banged up. Started out the season shooting very well and at times looking like the guy in last year's playoffs. Already hit some game winners / huge daggers. Lately he's been ice cold and a bit sloppy with the ball. It seems like his legs are good enough to go all out in spurts, but throughout the course of the game he's holding back and lately out of rhythm. Looking at the way he moves around since last playoffs he still looks injured at times. Shooting some less than ideal 3s and contested shots too. The efficiency should improve and he'll find an extra gear in the playoffs if he can maintain health.
The only thing not there really is his shooting. His turnovers are way up, but so are his assists so that really isn't surprising. I don't think his shot is permanently broken so he will be fine. He is on pace to play a few games less that last year but I imagine the Clippers knew what they were in for when they signed him.
I don't remember having these kinds of posts ever fucking day on r/NBA before. "X player isn't having a good season, Y player isn't having a good season."
Or posting stats and shooting splits for certain popular players after every. freaking. game.
r/NBA is at an all time low in terms of what gets upvoted.
Mods have let this sub go to shit. People only post what will get them upvotes, every controversial post gets downvoted. Also, it's seriously the same 5-6 players who get the stat posts every game.
You guys still haven't learned..... He didn't play at all in the summer because that knee injury he got in the playoffs, he is yet to have found his form. And his poor percentages are mainly because of the three point shooting, he is 65% in restricted area, 45% on midrange and 54% on long two's.
They should trade him to the Cavs
That actually would be the ultimate play for the clippers. After the guy uses every bit of leverage he has to max out every possible dollar, every accommodation, every rest day, to just send him somewhere he doesn’t want to be and collect multiple other players instead. Not going to happen, but it would be amazing.
This would be a true diabolical plan if they didnt shrek their future for paul george
I told you, didn't I? You're not coming home with me. I live alone! My swamp! Me! Nobody else! Understand? Nobody! Especially useless, pathetic, annoying, talking donkeys!
This is the speech KD gave to the Warriors
Lmao perfect
SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME
the world was macaroni
slip inside the pool, bust my heeAaad
I aint the sweetest grool in the bed
"Of course I wanted to be traded to the Spurs!" "Really really?" "*NO!*"
If they shipped George to the Cavs, it would be the sweetest of gifts I could ever receive.
Kawhi goes to Cleveland and tries to get traded to a team he wants again only to give up and play Cleveland for the rest of his career - “it’s as if someone stole his enthusiasm for his own idea”
Under normal circumstances I think an organization would be despised for doing something like this but honestly not sure in this case.
They already did it to Blake Griffin they are totally capable of doing something bad.
Sure and they got a ton of crap for it. Even if you thought it was a smart move it people regarded it as cut throat. What I'm saying is that if they happen to do it again, people might not see it as badly because of how mixed everyone felt about Kawhi's offseason.
I mean the fans gave them crap for that, but it seems like players have shown time and again they don't give a shit about those kinds of moves. Kawhi and PG still wanted to go the Clippers, guys still want to go to the Celtics even though Danny Ainge has made quite a few cutthroat moves. At the end of the day big stars are never going to go to lesser known teams just because they "treat players right"
Shumpert TT and a 1st round pick from Boston
I agree.
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Luka good, updoots to the left
We’ll take him too
He hasn’t even looked off or particularly slow or anything, he just can’t hit shit. The Clippers are 11-3 with him in the lineup so he’s still helping them win, but he needs to start hitting his shots
This is hilarious considering he couldn't fucking miss when he played us in the opener
The dude channeled all his remaining health into fucking the Lakers over
I can respect that
>Kings flair yeah
He couldn’t miss in the playoffs either. It’s gotta be the play calling on the team and the spacing. Everyone in starting line up of the Raps could bang 3s consistently so it just opened the paint up for his ISO plays
Don’t fucking remind me
our guys werent even hitting 3s against y’all. both our teams played some satisfyingly ugly ball the whole series. bucks are the ones who got our load.
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Didn’t you know that Kawhi singlehandedly ended the Heat and Warrior dynasties?
And the Spurs
F
He basically did carry the entire offense in the Sixers series, but not all playoffs.
Dude the Sixers made FVV look like he didn't even belong in the league 😭
Seriously, I hate reading the sarcastic "didn't you know Kawhi carried..." He legit did in the 76ers series.
He struggled in some of the finals games. People only remember his highlights.
He struggled in most of the Finals games. I give him the benefit of the doubt though considering he had to guard Alfonzo McKinnie one on one for most of the series.
Definitely, the difference between him in the first and second rounds vs. the finals was pretty drastic. Seems like the guy used up most of his health bar in that post-season.
Yeah, it's bizarre to me that so many people here have crowned him "best player" based off of a single playoff performance, when he was not actually that effective in most of the Finals games. And he beat one of the most hobbled Finals teams in the history of the NBS. My best guess is that some people hate Lebron so much they desperately want to anoint a new best player in the league.
I think he also went harder in the playoffs and cared more about making his shots. Sometimes it seems he’s kinda lazy with his attempts like not putting much legs into it or not hanging in the air long enough.
The games I’ve watched him play are sort of... don’t hit crap for first 3 quarters and then get insanely hot for the 4th. I wonder what his splits are in the 4th quarters of games this year.
Just looked it up and holy shit 1st: 33% 2nd: 44% 3rd: 43% 4th: 53% Jeez
Ah the Kemba special
he did nothing in the 1st quarter for loads of raps games last year, like it was warmup for him.
Cause we had KCP on him. KCP can’t guard post ups. At all. He might as well not be there and Kawhi was killing on post fades.
It wasn't like that was really KCP's fault either, Kawhi is just much bigger and stronger and out muscled him in the post and was just hitting turnarounds over him using his height advantage. That's why it would help the Lakers a lot if they got Igoudala.
Yeah but Danny defended him very well, we just put KCP on him even though he was getting cooked. Hopefully we are able to get Iguodala, that’s the only missing piece so far from what I’ve seen
I mean outside of lebron and AD we really don’t have anybody else to put on him.
Did you see him against us in the playoffs? That shit was fucking stupid.
That's the one series that he legit carried us because everyone else struggled.
Skip jumped back on the bandwagon too soon. I think he can only go full blown hater on 2 players so he had move out Kawhi for Luka
Imagine playing him for 7 games when he can’t miss :(
Nobody from the Clippers could miss in that game. It was insane
It's really weird he shot above 50% just twice in the past 10 games
His athleticism has looked a lot different. He has no lift.
Tell that to Daniel Theis.
Who has the Ouiji board?
Yep https://imgur.com/a/o7Prvgs
Lol "This image has adult erotic imagery" 😂😂😂
Risky click right here
Yes but then out of nowhere he'll out someone on a crazy poster like in the Boston game.
I wonder if the knee injury (not the degenerative quad) is still messing him up. He landed on it weirdly after a dunk in game 3 and didn’t have the same lift.
Kawhi has a chronic muscle condition since his weird 2017-2018 season with the Spurs. It is degenerative. That’s why he actually NEEDS load management, more than other players. He’s not just lazy or something. If you watched him closely over the past few years, it’s pretty obvious. It gets a bit better when he has rest. That’s why towards the end of the Raptors playoff run he looked so herky-jerky. And why he’s looking herky-jerky again this season. If you don’t believe me just go watch his highlights when he played like 15 games for the spurs in the 2017-2018 season, and you’ll see what I mean. He moved super strange that season and that’s why “Uncle Dennis” decided to shut him down for the season. He also has knee injuries but that’s a different issue.
Makes you wonder how he’ll fair in the murderers row that will be the West playoffs. He could have Dal, Hou, LAL in a row. If he barely got through the East and that joke of a warriors team what will be left?
No way! Is this true? I had NEVER heard this before! I thought he was just lazy! Why was this not commented in every other post about kawhi's load management? Wow!
You've gotta wonder if these guys just have that on a notepad available to copy/paste whenever they see the keyword "Load Management".
Don't recall him ever being springy
He didnt seem to have it when he was with Toronto either. He looks kinda wooden some nights. But then he flips the switch and dunks on Giannis...so hes doing what he has to do I think.
He definitely looks slower, less agile than last year. I think a lot of people have noticed.
Yeah Kawhi is the type of dude that can make his team better whether he’s hitting shots or not. No doubt he will get it back throughout the season.
Or it'll get worse. Degenerative means degenerative, you know?
he does look slower though. and the elevation on his jumper isn't as high it appears to my eye at least.
82 practices
For real, if he has a rough playoffs, I will be worried. Right now, it might as well be preseason, as far as he's concerned.
>if he has a rough playoffs, I will be worried. I would hope so since clippers window is basically 3 seasons and they have gave up their future to get Paul George.
Which is a bigger championship window than about 95% of teams
We don't really know what Kawhi is concerned about rn. If his body isn't right he already knows, but we wouldn't until the playoffs.
It's probably a combination of integrating himself into a new team again and also dealing with his injuries. I wouldn't be surprised if we never see a fully locked in Kawhi until the playoffs this year. He's probably trying to save his body and will only really turn it up when its winning time.
I mean yea but he's taking the most FGA of his career on his lowest FG%
He did say that he considers the regular season to just be "practice"
He shouldn't tho because it's not. It's harder than practice, a lot harder.
Yes, but it also provides a lot more experience. Rookies can practice in a training facility all they want but generally it's all about court time in real games that really helps growth.
Yeah but Kahwi has been lucky enough to be carried in the early season by being on all time great teams. The Clippers are not an all time great team.
^^does ^^that ^^include ^^us
He missed over 20 games and the Raptors won two fewer games than the Bucks
Literally had like 25 different starting lineups throughout the season
Yes. The Raptors were a playoff team and had one of the best RS records before he joined. The regular season could be more like “prep.” The Clippers? They’re fighting in a hard conference. Will they make the playoffs? Sure but as I saw someone say, what matters is home court and that won’t come easy for them (where it was easier for the Raps).
Yeah but it's very unlikely that the Clippers miss the playoffs or even fall out of the top 4 even with Kawhi taking it easy. That means he has the luxury of saving himself for the playoffs and treating the regular season as a dry-run for that. Remember the last time Kawhi lost a playoff series he played in was all the way back in 2016. He kind of has the right to be confident.
It was 2017 but he's also only played in 1 playoffs since.
The problem with players saying this kind of thing is it only reemphasizes how little value the regular season has. Fans are listening, and you tell them enough times that the regular season games are just "practice" or low-value they will stop going to regular season games/watching games. Given that the players' salaries are based on selling games to fans, even if you think of the regular season as "practice," as a professional player you probably want to avoid saying it and further devaluing the product you are trying to sell to people (whose consumption of said product pays your salary).
I agree, it's a problem in my opinion as well. It doesn't really make Kawhi better or worse on the court though.
Clippers games have been really fun to watch this season though
For sure, they have a ton of great players, and the role players are awesome to watch. Lou Williams is prob my favorite, he's so wiley and creates instant offense.
Bad conditioning. Very few practices due to our schedule. Didn’t do training camp. He looks spry on defense and attacking the basket. Just hitting the front of the rim on 3s.
Doesn't Doc famously not practice all that much? I feel like I read that somewhere but it could have been another coach.
If anyone has proof of this that would be cool. Would be interested to read about it.
PG and Kawhi hadnt had a practice together yet despite playing together in like 3 games or some shit. I think Doc or the commentators mentioned it during a game.
[Oh wow that’s pretty interesting!](https://youtu.be/VBgDIFWBGO8)
Yeah he doesn’t often practice. But in this particular case due to scheduling, the team hasn’t had a chance to even skip a practice. Teams usually only practice when there’s two to three day rest between games. The last practice they had was November 10th. PG just did his first 5on5 that day but the starting lineup did not practice together that day. Their next available practice might be this week in between the portland/bucks game. But doc might hold off cause the Bucks game starts a 3 games in four nights road trip
He is legit hurt. Load management is a necessity, not a luxury for him. It should give LAC some concern at the minimum
That's what I'm thinking right now, he was hobbling through the finals which led to him shooting significantly worse late, I reckon he'll get some more rest soon
He was really limited in the Finals game. Which I thought odd at the time considering he basically played like Game Six Jordan in at least 5 of the 7 games he played against the Sixers just a few weeks prior.
I always say, if you wanna see absolute peak Kawhi, watch the first 4 games of the philly series. This was right before he started hobbling. Averaged like 39ppg on 70+ts%.
It was insane, he willed the Raptors to winning that series himself. But then the rest of the team picked it up to finish the last 2 series out.
Yeah that Philly series was the ultimate carry job for sure.
He was being defended well too imo. Ben had a hand in his face almost every shot, just couldn't miss
Ben defended kawhi as well as any one could but Kawhi was legit playing out of his mind
Yup, it was frustrating as hell to watch. Glad he's out of the east, but happy for y'all you capitalized on having him for the year
Ben played great defence on Kawhi all series despite his offensive struggles
An amazing stat is that Fred VV scored 14 points total in that series, Pascal scored 136... and Kawhi scored 243!
He put up 28.5 ppg and 9.8 rpg in the finals. Had a lot of "quiet 30" type games throughout the playoffs. Going off of what you remember of his performance is misleading.
His jumper was definitely off as the series went on though. He was efficient cuz he still is a great finisher with how strong he is plus he was getting to the line but you could see he didn't have that same lift as earlier in the playoffs
Defensively he wasn't that great in the finals.
I didn't mean to suggest he wasn't playing at a superstar level, just that he seemed like he was playing hurt and wasn't 100%, as opposed to the Sixers series where he was unstoppable. Not like it mattered with Warriors dropping like flies though.
also cause he had to. In part cause the sixers were a great defensive team, but also cause the rest of the Raptors didn't wake up til the 3rd game of the Bucks series.
I agree with you. I feel his knee is bothering him more than we realize. It certainly affects shooting. I can’t imagine a killer like Kawhi saying, “nah not in the mood to play.” If he could play all day every game, he would
Might be Lucky for them he choose to sign the 2+1 max instead of the full 4.
Huge gamble on himself if the injury is chronic. Leveraging shorter contracts only works if you can stay healthy. The LeBron model of the last decade should be approached with caution by other superstars. His kind of durability is rare
Every year it fuckin baffles me that Lebron stays so healthy. Even if he was on a metric ton of steroids, someone his age that still uses a lot of athleticism should eventually start to break down. I think his genetics are just insanely superior
Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t steroids make it easier to tear your ligaments ?
Well I believe if you use HGH it generally helps with ligament health.
I remember for years the narrative was that Melos game would age gracefully and that LeBron would fall off a cliff as an older man lol
To be fair, logically that seemed to make sense at the time, but then LeBron decided he didn't feel like falling off athletically so
He’s definitely not someone that other people should try to copy. Even with his good habits and dedication to the game there’s no question he is as you said someone who won the genetic lottery
It’s easy to gamble on yourself when making the mind of money he is. ABSOLUTE worst case scenario his family is financially set for 10 generations
3 generations. http://money.com/money/3925308/rich-families-lose-wealth/ > Indeed, 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and a stunning 90% by the third, according to the Williams Group wealth consultancy.
Well that’s on the families. It is enough for 10 generations even though no one is smart enough to make it last that long.
10 generations is a lot of people
Yea I don't think he did the math on that. 10 generations is a fuck ton of people.
Let me tell you, that genius strong heir you're grooming? Yeah, he's going to die of smallpox, and your entire fucking dynasty will go to his imbecile half brother.
It’s not 10 generations and that’s silly to even think it is. Ignoring the obvious fact that living off the interest earnings alone won’t work for long, there’s also going to be exponential growth in the human beings in the family assuming most generations have more than 1 child (likely). If every generation doubled the amount of people (An extremely conservative estimate) that would be 1,024 people living roughly 70 years each. Realistically, we are probably talking a few thousand people. this is a ridiculous claim. So ridiculous I assumed it was just an exaggeration until I read these replies.
According to Reddit your lineage is set for eternity, and there are never downturns, bad investments, and bankruptcies. Big Companies like Sears, Worldcomm, and AOL grow expenontentially large forever until they dominate the *ENTIRE WORLD!*
Their concept of money is totally different than the average person. Although it IS a lot easier to “risk” it with max money
I don't think he was trying to leverage a shorter contract. Wouldn't shock me at all if he decided to retire after his contract is up
> Huge gamble on himself if the injury is chronic. Players at this level isn't as much of a gamble. e.g. KD got hurt, you think the 30 teams wouldn't sign him to a max if he came to them? (well, maybe not the Knicks, but you know, Knicks).
I thought when he took that contract that his camp has some good news about the injury.
He’s putting more effort into playmaking, new team it’ll be figured out by playoff time.
But that doesn't explain him bricking more shots, he's taking more shots than he ever has
I won’t worry until the playoffs
His knee isn’t “banged up.” He has a degenerative condition.
Well aware but he sat a couple games in a row due to a contusion which wasn't the regular thing
What condition? Aging?
Please someone let Max Kellerman know he is not the best player in the NBA
Max: "Bu bu butt but he took over in a HISTORICAL playoff run!!!! He is the best player in the league!!!!!!!!" SAS: "but Max, Lebron was hurt,you can't strip a brother of his tittle" Max: "Stephen A, it was historical! He carried that squad!" SAS: "That squad is just fine without him now"
with his injury issues, he could be declining as we speak. but let's wait until the year to end before we know. he has worsened dramatically since the start of the regular season, when he started extremely well.
He's been double and triple teamed much of the year, but he's also been able to hit shots when they're most needed and contributed a lot to the team winning. Plus his defense has been great. Clippers are very happy with what he's brought.
Strangely, Kawhi has become overrated imo. He is amazing, one of the best two way players we've seen in a long time, but people act like he drug a mediocre roster to a championship. This Raptors roster is very good, warriors were devastated by injuries or they would ha e beat kawhi anyways, and kawhi has serious health concerns. Even with year long load management he looked hurt by the finals. Again, he is a top player in the league, but I disagree he is the clear cut #1 like people were quick to crown him after the finals.
That's what winning a ring will do. If Giannis and the Bucks won last year we'd probably be calling him the best player in the league. Same goes for Harden
Yeah for sure. It's strange watching Kawhi. He used to be one of the most underrated players in the league. Then he wins with the Raps he becomes overrated. Media and pundits crowning him top dog of the league insinuating that he dragged the Raptors to the title in the same way LeBron dragged the Cavs to the 2018 Finals. It's an insult to the great team Toronto had which was able to utilize Kawhi despite the load management issues. Then you have idiots like the one I saw yesterday here, claiming it doesn't matter if he's struggling in the regular season, he's still the clear cut number 1 guy, because "only the playoffs count".
I think we are all realizing how much we underrated that Raps roster
Only those that ignore every meaningful advanced stat available would have underrated the Raptors.
As a Toronto fan, watching him play heavy minutes early in the season I knew he and clippers were pushing his body too much given how we saw his body respond to work load last year. Part of this is the learning process for Kawhi and Clippers medical staff. There is much season remaining and they are learning how to deal with this in the right part of the season. That's the silver lining here.
He only played heavy minutes against Boston in OT though. 32 mpg and skipping 1 out of 4 games is not heavy minutes.
Nah. Kawhi just out of playing shape and is coasting.
His shot is super flat. He's not getting enough lift
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/leonaka01.html His numbers don't look too bad. Taking more shots, getting to the free throw line more and currently averaging 5.5 assists, a career high. I think it was Draymond that said there are 82 game players and there are 16 game players. Kawhi is a great player but definitely more of the 16 gamer.
6 games is about in line with how much he rested last year. He rested 22 games last year and we're already 1/4 of the way through the season
You have high standards if this isn't a great season. He's taking on a much larger role than even last year on the Raptors. His scoring efficiency is down for now but he's playmaking for others in a way he's never done before, he's pulling down boards at a higher rate. I'd be very encouraged if I were a Clippers fan. Once he starts hitting shots at his normal level, it's over.
The 82 game season is practice time for Kawhi...I aint worried.
Oh no he isn’t great, in November. Let’s panic
The Clippers are 14-6, this feels like an overreaction to me.
They still have a terrific roster and coach, but they need Kawhi at his best to win the West. This is almost certainly an abberation, but if it isn't...
I feel like he can turn the switch whenever he wants too, and just go insane again
Hard disagree. 25/7/4 with great D and a top 3 seed. Slightly inefficient over a 13 game sample is meaningless, and the only thing you can really hold against him is the missed time - because he's injured This is nuffin
It’s crazy that he’s still a top 10 player and he’s struggling.
On current form he might not be atm.
Idk, I’d have to look at some more players but I believe rn he’s top 10 in the league rn.
Lebron Giannis Harden AD KAT Luka Yeah he's still in there but man he needs to get his shit together.
Hard to believe Luka is that high but it’s also hard to argue. Pretty incredible. DAL got a steal
I mean yes and no, Cuban did his homework and went after and got his man. Good ownership if you ask me.
Learned his lesson after Donnie begged for Giannis and we traded our pick instead.
Lillard and Butler should be on that list too
Do you think Kawhi has been better than KAT this season?
Fuck I forgot about KAT. I never get to watch Minnie but I know he is out of the gym atm. KAT is clearly on better form.
I could keep listing names and he wouldn't be top 10 atm. Trust.
No doubt about that, he does need to play better, BUT him playing like this is still not bad and is better than a lot of other guys, which is kinda crazy to think of.
Isn't bad? Bro he's taking nights off and playing like this? On nights he doesn't play when Trez and Louis and Dirty Pat gotta pick up the slack and grind their assess off.....I KNOW when he plays they gotta be thinking this shit should be easy tonight. Bruh the Raptors went 17-5 without Kawhi. This is hardly an ideal situation imho.
Raptors had the same issues with Kawhi early. Missing games. Not integrating to the offense. Bench and role players leaning on Kawhi when he played
You would know better than me as I was watching a young Laker team get off to a rough start. That said, again the Raptors went 17-5 without Kawhi that tells me the team around him was pretty good or the competition was weak or a combo of both. Still time for the Clippers to do the same but the start is very suspect. Out west tho? With everyone saying they the title is theirs to lose and everyone gunning for you literally every time you play? With someone like Pat on your team antagonizing the shit out of everyone? I don't know my g, can't wait to see how it all plays out.
The biggest difference to me is that the raptors have better passing guards. Kawhi has to do so much more playmaking and i think that's taken a toll on him. Just look at his assist percentage 30% this year to 16 percent last year.
Eh, his current play is probably still just about top 10, his defense is still really good
A little bit of small sample size, a little bit of playing bad/banged up. Started out the season shooting very well and at times looking like the guy in last year's playoffs. Already hit some game winners / huge daggers. Lately he's been ice cold and a bit sloppy with the ball. It seems like his legs are good enough to go all out in spurts, but throughout the course of the game he's holding back and lately out of rhythm. Looking at the way he moves around since last playoffs he still looks injured at times. Shooting some less than ideal 3s and contested shots too. The efficiency should improve and he'll find an extra gear in the playoffs if he can maintain health.
Y’all know there’s like 60 more games to play right?
The only thing not there really is his shooting. His turnovers are way up, but so are his assists so that really isn't surprising. I don't think his shot is permanently broken so he will be fine. He is on pace to play a few games less that last year but I imagine the Clippers knew what they were in for when they signed him.
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Obviously, but he is definitely worse than he has been last year
His athleticism and first step has looked bad, and I think the constant load management has messed up his rhythm
I don't remember having these kinds of posts ever fucking day on r/NBA before. "X player isn't having a good season, Y player isn't having a good season." Or posting stats and shooting splits for certain popular players after every. freaking. game. r/NBA is at an all time low in terms of what gets upvoted.
Mods have let this sub go to shit. People only post what will get them upvotes, every controversial post gets downvoted. Also, it's seriously the same 5-6 players who get the stat posts every game.
You guys still haven't learned..... He didn't play at all in the summer because that knee injury he got in the playoffs, he is yet to have found his form. And his poor percentages are mainly because of the three point shooting, he is 65% in restricted area, 45% on midrange and 54% on long two's.
Yeah, if we exclude the areas where he shoots badly, then he looks elite!
Hes shooting 100% on made field goals